Downfall: The destruction of Charles Mackay

A small town scandal

In 1920 New Zealanders were shocked by the news that the brilliant, well-connected mayor of Whanganui had shot a young gay poet, D'Arcy Cresswell, who was blackmailing him. They were then riveted by the trial that followed. Mackay was sentenced to hard labour and later left the country, only to be shot by a police sniper during street unrest in Berlin during the rise of the Nazis. Mackay had married into Whanganui high society, and the story has long been the town’s dark secret.

Research reveals a perilous existence

The outcome of years of digging by historian Paul Diamond, Downfall: The destruction of Charles Mackay shines a clear light on the vengeful impulses behind the blackmail and Mackay’s ruination. The cast of this tale includes the Prince of Wales, the president of the RSA, Sir Robert Stout, Blanche Baughan ... even Lady Ottoline Morrell. But it is much more than an extraordinary story of scandal. At its heart, the Mackay affair reveals the perilous existence of homosexual men at that time and how society conspired to control and punish them.

You can listen to a talk Paul Diamond gave about Charles Mackay in a Public History talk in 2011 Charles Mackay: The fall and rise of New Zealand’s first ’homosexual’

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About the speaker

Paul Diamond (Ngāti Hauā, Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi) has been Curator Māori, at the Alexander Turnbull Library since 2011. A journalist and broadcaster he is also the author of A Fire in Your Belly: Māori Leaders Speak (Huia, 2003), Makereti: taking Māori to the world (Random House, 2007) and Savaged to suit: Māori and cartooning in New Zealand (NZ Cartoon Archive, 2018). His latest book Downfall: The destruction of Charles Mackay was published by Massey University Press in November 2022.

Public history talks

These free Public History Talks are a collaboration between the Alexander Turnbull Library and Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage. They are usually held on the first Wednesday of the month, March to December.

The talks are recorded and you can find them at the Apple store, Spotify and Podbean #newzealandhistory.

Listen to previous public history talks

Watch ‘Downfall: The destruction of Charles Mackay’ on YouTube

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Image credit: The cover of 'Downfall: The destruction of Charles Mackay' (Massey University Press, 2022).